Surrender

Anya watched Alvin leaving. Although he appeared angry, she could feel he was not comfortable about the topic that evokes bad memories. All she knew when they were studying together was he didn't have a good relationship with his family, so why didn't she think it was probably something worse? 

Probably he wasn't acting cool and stayed comfortable around her because she never bothered to ask about his family and personal life,

Numerous thoughts ran in her mind on how the Matthews family might have treated him, why his mother Janet Collins didn't care for him and chose her career, whether his stepmother and stepbrother treated him well, does his father detest him, and so on. 

She always thought he might be aloof from birth but didn't expect it was just a shield he was forced to use. That shield was protecting his mother's career and his father's name rather than giving him any happiness.